In recent years, thinning of a polarizing plate has been desired, and hence there has been proposed a method involving stretching a laminate of a thermoplastic resin substrate and a polyvinyl alcohol-based resin layer (hereinafter, referred to as PVA-based resin layer) so that a polarizing film may be obtained (for example, Patent Literature 1). According to such production method, thinning of the PVA-based resin layer is achieved, but there is a problem in that its optical characteristics are low. It is generally known that, in production of the polarizing film, the stretching causes the laminate to shrink in a direction perpendicular to a stretching direction, and it is also known that the optical characteristics can be improved through the shrinkage (Patent Literature 2). However, there is a problem in that, owing to the shrinkage, orientation unevenness occurs and thickness uniformity reduces, and hence the thin polarizing film to be obtained has reduced in-plane uniformity. There is also a problem in that as a shrinkage ratio increases, although the optical characteristics may become favorable, the reduction in in-plane uniformity becomes remarkable, and moreover, a wrinkle becomes liable to occur.